Sins of a Solar Empire : Real-Time Strategy. Unrivalled Scale.
© 2003-2013 Ironclad Games Corporation Vancouver, BC. All rights reserved.
© 2006-2013 Stardock Entertainment
Sign Up | Lost Login?

BioWare Employee Busted in Dragon Age 2 Review Scandal

By louist on March 15, 2011 10:27:48 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums External Link

louist

Join Date 09/2005
+15

Looks like BioWare employees have been posting perfect Metacritic reviews of Dragon Age 2. Not a huge thing, but given the unusually mixed responses the game's been getting from players... Well, something's not quite right at BioWare.

58 Replies
Search this post
Advanced Search
Subscription Options

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
3 Pages Jump to Page1 2 3 
Reply #51
Zeta1127
Join Date 02/2011
+8
March 20, 2011 1:48:24 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

Quoting RavenX,
reply 50

Quoting RogueCaptain, reply 43People are generally disgruntled from less than honest activity due to the entire professional game review industry as a whole.  The only reason this case made news is the developer company got caught red handed so to speak.  It's a natural backlash for something long coming.

Aside from Karl above mentioning "Myth", RogueC's comment right here Wins the Thread.

I agree, I am not surprised that they do things like that one bit, I would prefer they not do things like that, but the reality is there are a lot of dishonest people out there, a large concentration of them seem to be at EA, or come out when studios fall under their wing.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #52
kenata
Join Date 02/2006
+25
March 20, 2011 5:20:05 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

I agree, I am not surprised that they do things like that one bit, I would prefer they not do things like that, but the reality is there are a lot of dishonest people out there, a large concentration of them seem to be at EA, or come out when studios fall under their wing.

I hate to say it but this probably wasn't a case of dishonesty or some internally promoted nefarious actions. Consider how it must feel to be an employee at Bioware right about now. You just spent a year and half of your life working on a game, and when it comes out, it is blasted by fans and reviewers. I think that any of us finding ourselves in that position would be tempted to jump on metacritics and post a more favorable review. In all honesty, most of the reviews on metacritics are overly harsh and give the game no credit for actually being at least partially fun.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #53
GeneralEtrius
Join Date 04/2007
+62
March 20, 2011 5:35:19 PM from GalCiv II Forums GalCiv II Forums

I've known about mega publishers pressuring reviewers for a long time. Gamesradar had an article a while back that showed a whole pile of goodies and pressure letters that EA alone had sent them. That's why I only look at the major gaming sites for news and previews not reviews. As for the site that is in bed with publishers the most, I'd have to say Gamespot. That site does these "launch centers" for the major titles, which basically promotes them over the more minor (and often better) titles.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #54
FadedC
Join Date 03/2003
+5
March 20, 2011 5:41:57 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Quoting kenata,
reply 52

I agree, I am not surprised that they do things like that one bit, I would prefer they not do things like that, but the reality is there are a lot of dishonest people out there, a large concentration of them seem to be at EA, or come out when studios fall under their wing.


I hate to say it but this probably wasn't a case of dishonesty or some internally promoted nefarious actions. Consider how it must feel to be an employee at Bioware right about now. You just spent a year and half of your life working on a game, and when it comes out, it is blasted by fans and reviewers. I think that any of us finding ourselves in that position would be tempted to jump on metacritics and post a more favorable review. In all honesty, most of the reviews on metacritics are overly harsh and give the game no credit for actually being at least partially fun.

Have to agree with Kenata here. Add to everything he said the fact that there are reasonable signs to suggest that at least a significant portion of the negative reviews on metacritic are themselves fradulant, and it's pretty easy for a misguided employee to justify writing their own review. Doesn't make it right, but I doubt it's part of a conspiracy or a company policy.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #55
Zeta1127
Join Date 02/2011
+8
March 20, 2011 8:49:26 PM from Sins of a Solar Empire Forums Sins of a Solar Empire Forums

I am not saying what Bioware did was necessarily dishonest, but there are a lot of other things EA has done that are dishonest.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #56
DrAtomic1
Join Date 03/2006
+4
March 21, 2011 12:17:37 PM from Elemental Forums Elemental Forums

Meh, download the demo and decide for yourself.

Personally I was disgusted with the "Tekken" style combat and decided not to buy, others may love it though.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #57
Sola_III
Join Date 03/2008
+2
April 7, 2011 10:26:14 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

I'm not suprised.  All the rainbow and unicorn reviews starting about the time they started talking about the speed of combat and went into hyperdrive just before release.  Not much of a conspiracy theorist, but stuff like this turns folks into one.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
Reply #58
Sola_III
Join Date 03/2008
+2
April 7, 2011 10:27:21 PM from Stardock Forums Stardock Forums

Quoting DrAtomic1,
reply 56
Meh, download the demo and decide for yourself.

Personally I was disgusted with the "Tekken" style combat and decided not to buy, others may love it though.

 

My first thoughts was Japanese RPG - ie: Final Fantasy XIII.

Reason for Karma (Optional)
Successfully updated karma reason!
3 Pages Jump to Page1 2 3 
View all recent posts
Mark all posts as read  •   Delete cookies created by the forum  •   Return to Top
Stardock Forums v1.0.0.0    #108436  walnut3   Server Load Time: 00:00:00.0000297   Page Render Time: